Endless conveyer.



F. G. WOOD.

ENDLESS UONVEYEB.

APPLICATION FILED NOV.13, 1905.

961 1939 Patented June 14,1910.

tam) e. woon, or YORKVILLE,

(OFFICE.

MICHIGAN, ASSIGNOR TO THE PRICE CEREAL FOOD COMPANY, OF C HICAGQ'ILLINOIS, A CORPORATION OF NEW JERSEY.

nNnnnss CONVEYER.

Specification of Letters laten't. Application filed November 13, 1905. Serial No. 287,031."

To all whom it may concern.

Be it known that I, FRED G. Woon, a citizen of the United States, anda resident of Yorkville, in the county of Kalamazoo and State-of Michigan, have invented certain new and useful Improvements in'Endless Conveyers, of which the following is a specification. I

This invention relates to endless conveyers comprising among other things, belt carriers for conveying various articles and commodities from one point to another, and particularly to improvements in endless conveyers for carrying cartons or other receptacles from the machine in which they are manufactured, to other machine or machines for filling and sealing the same.

Heretofore endless belts have been employed for carrying cartons from one machine to the other but in such a manner that "the cartons must move in one'direction and be bodily dropped'by gravity from one belt to the other and in the machine and machines in which they are filled and sealed.

In 'the most approved carton makin and filling machines of to-day however, an particularly for making cartons'for and filling them with cereal foods, there is a necessity in conducting the cartons from .one machine to the other, that they shall be transferred from one belt to another running in the op posite direction from the first belt and that in automatically transferring cartons from one machine to another, the cartons shall not be dropped by gravity during their movement from one machine to and through the other.

The prime object of my invention therefore is to provide a simple and effective means or connectionbetween belt conveyers and of such a character, that cartons or other articles or commodities, may be transferred from one'belt to another running in opposite directions, with a uniform move- -ment corresponding with that of the belt and without bodily dropping the cartons or other commodities in thelr passage from one of said belts to the other.

A further object of my invention is to provide means whereby in the shifting of the cartons or other commodity upon a de-' vice connecting two belt carriers running in an opposite direction, the gravity of the carton etc. may be usedfor gradually transferring the frictional contact thereof with tain other objects hereinafter a tail perspective view without substantially librium of the carton.

A still further object is'to provide a continuously revolving connection between two or more belt carriers, the one running in the disturbing the equisue a character as to require a minimum of power forits movement and that the revolving carrier may be easily timed in its movement to correspond with that of Said carriers.

. With "these ends in view, my invention consists in certain features of novelty in the construction, combination and arrangement of parts, by which the's aid objects and oer- V pearing are attained, all as describe ence to the accompanying drawings and more particularly pomted out in the claims.

Patented une 14, 1910. I

a'belt to the connection referred to and 'opgiosite direction from the other, and 0f v with refer- In said drawings; Eigfiire 1 illustrates a top plan View of an en 8S8 conveyor, 'my g my lnventlon and whichlis 'particularly adapted for automatically transferring cartons from a carton making machine toa filling machine and by two elts, the one running in the opposite direction 'from the other. Fig. 2 is a side elevation particularly showing the means for supporting the def vices connecting the two belt carriers. 3 is a section on the line 3, 3 of- Fig. 1. Fig.

4 is an end elevationlof my endless carrier.

Fig. 5 is an enlarged detail sectional View on the line 55 of Fig.1 showin the'connection betweentherevolving tab e and the conveyer supply' g cartons thereto and bymeans of which connection the cartons may be moved from the belts to the conveyer without bodily dropping by gravity but in such a manner that thefrictionalwontact may be gradually shifted from the belt to the revolving carrier table. 1 Fig.- 6 is a departicularly showing.

the connection between. the endless carrier supplying the cartons and also the connection of the outer for both the belt and the table; and a detail end elevation indicating both the. imbifr and the outer guides for the belt 'and ta e. 1

Similar numerals of reference indicate the same partsin the several figures of the draw- 8 indicates the endless belt of an endless conveyer,-which is supported at one end by to the revolving table" guides a roller not'shown,

' conduct them as indicated by, the arrow to avoidably a space,

means, an inner guide strip or rail .29, secured outer overlapping the opposite end of the belt which is supported upon a roller 9, the cartons or other articles being prevented from falling oil the belt by thin strips or rails 10 11, which for convenience are indicated respectively as the outer and inner guide strips.

Parallel with the belt 8 and separated therefrom is another endless belt 12 moving as indicated by the arrow, in the opposite direction from the belt 8 and connected at one end by a roller, not shown, say for ex ample a carton filling machine and supported at its opposite end by a roller 18, as indicated inFig. 1, and provided with inner and outer side rails or strips 14 and 15 preventing the lateral escape of the cartons or other materials therefrom. At or about the extremities of this belt carrier is an endless carrier consisting of a rotatable circular table 16 provided with a hub 17 bearing in such proximity to a belt to the table is bridged with a upon a base plate 18 and secured by meansof a key to a vertical shaft 20, which may be driven by means of a bevel gear 21 pro-- jecting below the base plate and machine with the bevel gear 22 on a horizontal shaft 23 j ournale'd in legs plate and driven through the medium of a belt pulley 25, which may be actuated by a belt connected with some suitable driving power either upon the machines themselves or elsewhere.

The shaft projects slightly above the top of the rotatable table 16 and has loosely sleeved thereon a hub 26 from which projects radial arms 27 to the outer ends of which is secured by rivets or other suitable strip or rail 28 partly formed on an arc of a circle corresponding with that of the table 16 and projecting beyond the edge of the table and secured to the inner guide rails 11 and 1% respectively for the belt 8 and 12, the hub and the radial arms serving to give rigidity to this inner rail or strip, which, as shown in Fig. 8, rises above the plane of the table 16.

Following the periphery of the table and paralleling the inner rail 28 is an outer guide at one end to the guide rail 10 for the belt 8 and at its opposite end by rivets 30 or other suitable means, to the inner rail 14c for the belt 12, these two double guide rails forming an open curved guide-way connecting the corresponding guide rails or strips for the belts, and like said guide rails are stationary at all times.

Between the end of the belt 8 upon the roller 9 and the rotating table 16, there is unbecause of which and in order to prevent any catching or jerking of the carton or other article passing from the 52 i supporting the base triangular shaped plate 81 (see Fig. 5) but which {see 6) preferably consists of series of fingers 32 secured toa cross bar 83, which, and also the plate 31 is provided with a downwardly projecting flange 3% corresponding with the curvature of the belt and lying as .closely thereto as may be without disturbing the free movement of the belt. The rotating table 16 is beveled from its strengthened by a polished steel plate 35 secured thereto by one or more set scre'ws 86 or other suitable means.

The purpose of bringing the outer portion of the rotating table to a thin edge is to rovide for bringing the upper surface. thereof as close up to the plane of the upper surface of the belt as is possible in order to prevent a drop rial by gravity from the belt to the table and yet provide at the same time for having the triangular plate or finger so arranged that the carton in passing from the belt upon the plate may tact from the former to the latter and with out interrupting or retarding its movement from the one to the other or substantially disturb its equilibrium, but it will be no departure from the spirit of my invention, to employ a table composed of a steel plate with a thickness throughout corresponding with the thinnest portion of the table herein shown.

As illustrating the convenience of connecting the rotating table carrier with the belts 8 and 12, l have shown the guide rails of the one overlapping the other but obviously they might be in continuous strips for both the table and the belts and I have also shown the inner "uide rail 28 of the table as sup ported and suspended by a hub 26 loose on the shaft 20 and bearing upon the table but it would be no departure from my invention to suspend said inner rail from any fixed point above the table.

in operation cartons or other product or materials supplied to the belt 8 are conducted by the belt between its guide rails 10 and 11 to the triangular bar or fingers and by the pressure of other cartons pushed from'the belt over the triangular plate or fingers upon the rotating table 16 and in passing from the belt to the table 16 the inner portion or corner of the cartons'by very slight deflect-ion or tilting, first engages any frictional contact with the table, which gradually increasing frictional contact serves to transfer the carton by uniform movement and without any jerk from the belt to the table, so that it moves from the belt to the table without any halt or hitch and also continuously at a uniform rate of speed.

gradually shift its frictional conadjacent hub toward its outer edge where it is quite I thin and being preferably of cast metal is of the carton or other mate- 7 Connection between the table and the belt 12 running in the opposite direction may be the same as that shown and described be; tween the belt 8 and the table, but in practice the table is so arranged relative to the belt 12 as to slightlyoverlap the surface of the same, as indicated in Fig. 1, so that the cartons tilt and gradually shift their frictional contact from the rotating table to the belt and are thence carried in the opposite direction from that which they were traveling when received by the belt and conducted continuously to some other point, as for example a fillingmachine.

In practice the table and the two belts have the same velocity of movement and as a result cartons carried from the belt 8 to, upon, and from the rotating table to the belt 12, are conducted continuously with a uniform speed from one machine to the other, as for example from the machine in which they are made to the machine in which they are filled and whereby thereis also provided means for likewise conducting them to a third machine in which they are sealed.

I/Vith the automatic making, filling and sealing machine now in common use, my invent1on provides for automatically and continuously conducting cartons both empty and in a filled condition from one to the other.

Having described my invention, what I claim as new and desire to secure by Letters Patent, is:

1. In a conveyer, belts arranged parallel to each other and traveling in opposed directions, in combination with a rotating table between and in connection with said belts, said table being adapted to conduct articles in reverse directions from one belt to the other, substantially asdescribed.

2. In an endless conveyer, the combination of belts, a rotating table connecting said belts and a triangular plate bridging the space between one of said belts and table, said plate being arranged in substantially as described.

3. In an endless conveyer, the combination of endless belts traveling in opposite directions, and guide rails at each side thereof with a rotating table, the outer edge of which is of minimum thickness and the surface of which is composed of a thin steel plate, a plate bridging the space between said table and belt, the surface of which plate is substantially in a plane with the belt, and but slightly above the plane of the table, substantially as described.

4. In an endless conveyer, the combination of endless belt carriers moving in opposite directions, a circular table connecting said carriers and means for rotating said table, a bed plate supporting said table in an elevated position and substantially in a plane with said carriers, a triangular plate spanning the space between said belt and table, the upper surface of which plate is in the same plane as that of the corresponding surface of the belt and in a plane but slightly above the table, whereby cartons or other articles are conducted with gradually increasing frictional contact with the table and by a continuously uniform movement, substantially as described.

5. In a device ofthe character described, the combination of a frame, a pair of endless belt conveyers moving along approximately in parallel lines but in opposite directions near the plane of said frame, and means adjacent each conveyer adapted to receive objects therefrom and deliver said objects to the other conveyer, substantially as described.

In witness whereof, I have hereunto set my hand this 9th day of November A. D. 1905.

FRED-G. WOOD. In the presence of J NO. Gr. ELLIOTT, MARGARET S. REEDER. 

